Resilience through interlinkage: the green climate fund and climate finance governance

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is a significant and potentially innovative addition to UNFCCC frameworks for mobilizing increased finance for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Yet the GCF faces challenges of operationalization not only as a relatively new international fund but also as a result of US President Trump’s announcement that the United States would withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Consequently the GCF faces a major reduction in actual funding contributions and also governance challenges at the levels of its Board and the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP), to which it is ultimately accountable. This article analyzes these challenges with reference to the GCF’s internal regulations and its agreements with third parties to demonstrate how exploiting design features of the GCF could strengthen its resilience in the face of such challenges. These features include linkages with UNFCCC constituted bodies, particularly the Technology Mechanism, and enhanced engagement with non-Party stakeholders, especially through its Private Sector Facility. The article posits that deepening GCF interlinkages would increase both the coherence of climate finance governance and the GCF’s ability to contribute to ambitious climate action in uncertain times.

Key policy insights

• The Trump Administration’s purported withdrawal from the Paris Agreement creates challenges for the GCF operating model in three key domains: capitalization, governance and guidance.

• Two emerging innovations could prove crucial in GCF resilience to fulfil its role in Paris Agreement implementation: (1) interlinkages with other UNFCCC bodies, especially the Technology Mechanism; and (2) engagement with non-Party stakeholders, especially private sector actors such as large US investors and financiers.

• There is also an emerging soft role for the GCF as interlocutor between policy-makers and non-Party actors to help bridge the communication divide that often plagues cross-sectoral interactions.

• This role could develop through: (a) the GCF tripartite interface between the Private Sector Facility, Accredited Entities and National Designated Authorities; and (b) strengthened collaborations between the UNFCCC Technical and Financial Mechanisms.

     

The role of voluntary commitments in realizing the promise of the Blue Economy

Voluntary (or non-binding) commitments offer an action-oriented mechanism for addressing interconnected, complex and pressing issues. Though not designed to replace negotiated or binding outcomes, voluntary commitments can offer a critical tool in currently ungoverned or under-governed systems. The Blue Economy is an example of a rapidly evolving agenda where formal governance arrangements are at best nascent, in part due to the trans-border nature of issues and prominent involvement of multiple types of actors. As such voluntary commitments provide an important mechanism through which to monitor the evolution of the concept and identify gaps or shortfalls in its implementation. Our analysis of global voluntary commitments on the Blue Economy made to recent high-profile ocean futures meetings, found a trend towards capacity development, research, and investment in emerging and larger scale sectors such as offshore aquaculture and renewable energy. A concurrent focus was on securitizing, regulating or diverting effort from historically significant fisheries sectors. European organizations are playing a dominant role in Blue Economy commitments, with a notable absence of commitments from major Blue Economy powers such as China and India. We identify a number of gaps and shortfalls, particularly in relation to active consideration of social equity in the Blue Economy. We identify a range of recommendations on how these deficiencies may be addressed through a greater focus on a broader suite of objectives and a more inclusive approach to ocean meetings.     

The anticipatory governance of sustainability transformations: Hybrid approaches and dominant perspectives

Anticipation methods and tools are increasingly used to try to imagine and govern transformations towards more sustainable futures across different policy domains and sectors. But there is a lack of research into the steering effects of anticipation on present-day governance choices, especially in the face of urgently needed sustainability transformations. This paper seeks to understand how different perspectives on anticipatory governance connect to attempts to guide policy and action toward transformative change. We analyze perspectives on anticipatory governance in a global network of food system foresight practitioners (Foresight4Food) – using a workshop, interviews, and a survey as our sources of data. We connect frameworks on anticipatory governance and on transformation to analyse different perspectives on the future and their implications for actions in the present to transform food systems and offer new insights for theory and practice. In the global Foresight4Food network, we find that most foresight practitioners use hybrid approaches to anticipatory governance that combine fundamentally different assumptions about the future. We also find that despite these diverse food futures, anticipation processes predominantly produce recommendations that follow more prediction-oriented forms of strategic planning in order to mitigate future risks. We further demonstrate that much anticipation for transformation uses the language on deep uncertainty and deliberative action without fully taking its consequences on board. Thus, opportunities for transforming future food systems are missed due to these implicit assumptions that dominate the anticipatory governance of food systems. Our combined framework helps researchers and practitioners to be more reflexive of how assumptions about key human systems such as food system futures shape what is prioritized/marginalized and included/excluded in actions to transform such systems.     

Effects of stakeholder input on voluntary sustainability standards

Voluntary sustainability standards can be powerful tools for incentivizing sustainable production practices. Most standards rely on stakeholder input to gain legitimacy and set levels of achievement for businesses at an appropriate level. Yet, the effects of stakeholder input are contentious. Whereas some see stakeholder input leading to more stringent standards, others believe stakeholder input dilutes standards and renders them toothless. I intervene into this debate through an analysis of the effects of stakeholder comments on eight different voluntary sustainability standards. Drawing on an original dataset of 7945 stakeholder comments submitted during public comment periods between 2012 and 2019, I answer three interrelated research questions. First, who comments on sustainability standards and are some groups better represented than others? Second, what types of input do stakeholders provide? Third, which stakeholder comments result in observable changes to the content of sustainability standards? I find that industry groups are over-represented compared to other stakeholder groups. I also find that comments intended to weaken the stringency of sustainability standards are more likely to be implemented than comments intended to strengthen their stringency or other types of comments. A key implication is that stakeholder input is more likely to weaken or maintain the status quo of sustainability standards than strengthen them.     

Assisted network governance: An inclusive innovation to mitigate extreme water scarcity

We study a local innovation of natural resource governance in Chile in times of extreme water scarcity. Through the issuance of a scarcity decree, the government obliges local water user associations (WUAs) to reach viable water redistribution agreements in order to avoid being overruled by the state. In the Aconcagua River, the government together with the WUAs created the Executive Committee, where only the WUAs have a vote, but private and public stakeholders participate in the process of negotiating water use agreements. Grounded on thematic coding of the detailed minutes of over 80 committee meetings since its inception, we examine the workings of a new local model of Assisted Network Governance (ANG). Based on content and social network analysis of over 1,000 directed interactions among committee members, we find that ANG, as an element of broader hybrid governance, has not only produced viable agreements for immediate water redistribution, but has also facilitated longer-term system improvements by building mutual understanding, resolving conflicts, and mobilizing external resources to improve infrastructure. We conclude that ANG helps accomplish common objectives in the field of natural resources under conditions of extreme water scarcity.     

A Study of Governance Arrangements for Land Use and Natural Resource Management Planning in Cape York Peninsula

Complex intersecting social, economic and environmental dilemmas in Australia's Cape York Peninsula present a number of challenges for planners seeking to develop and implement land use and natural resource management (NRM) plans. There have been five different attempts at land use and NRM planning in Cape York Peninsula over the last 20 years. These processes have (to greater or lesser extents) failed to deliver community-owned and government-supported plans to guide development and/or the management of the region's natural resources. The region is remote, sparsely populated, and home to a significant Indigenous population. Much of the contestation within the region surrounds the access, use and ownership of the region's internationally valuable natural resources. This paper reviews, from the literature, the relevancy and applicability of criteria for best practice planning and governance. A range of identified best practice governance and planning principles are applied to assess the governance arrangements for planning in the Peninsula. The paper finds that decision-making arrangements for land use and NRM planning in the Peninsula are still in their infancy and are inadequate to support effective outcomes. The paper concludes that broader attention to best practice principles in governance for planning is needed to improve planning outcomes.     

中国城市基层地域的领域化与领域政治——基于东莞东泰社区的案例研究

从领域视角出发,城市化过程即是城市地域的(再)领域化过程,也即空间资源在个人和社会群体间的(再)分配和(再)组织过程。20世纪90年代以来中国城市单位制的解体及社区制的建立,标志着中国城市基层地域领域化机制的变革,本文在此背景下以东莞市东泰社区为例,分析了变革后中国城市基层地域领域化动态,探究了其中政府、市场和民间力量主体作用的机制变化。研究发现:单位制下中国城市基层地域的行政领域化已经被社区制下的市场领域化所替代,同时民间力量开始参与其中。由于缺乏合理的领域化协调机制以及政府角色偏差,城市基层管治呈现恶性的领域政治,成为社区制下城市管治失败不可忽视的原因。换言之,领域单元及领域政治机制建设是当前城市基层管治的要务。为确立有效的城市基层地域管治模式,需要尽快改革社区体制、明确管治单元,并要防止资本和行政权力向生活空间的过度渗透。     

Negotiating conflict resolution mechanisms for transboundary water treaties: A transaction cost approach

Conflict resolution mechanisms are recognised as indispensable constituting elements of transboundary water agreements. Earlier studies confirm, however, that such mechanisms are either incomplete, unsophisticated or absent from treaties. We argue that transaction costs, which occur during treaty negotiation, may constitute a barrier to the adoption of conflict resolution mechanisms in water treaties. Transaction costs are never equal and depend largely on the context in which negotiations take place. A content analysis of the treaties in the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database demonstrates that the adoption of conflict resolution mechanisms to transboundary water treaties is not random, but may be affected by external factors that influence the transaction cost of negotiating such mechanisms. Water scarcity and a history of cooperative hydro-relations are factors that coincide with the presence of conflict resolution mechanisms in treaties and are therefore considered to lower transaction costs. External resource dependency is believed to stir transaction costs to such an extent that it prevents the adoption of mature mechanisms. The same goes for political freedom, political heterogeneity and the presence of colonial signatories as these factors correlate with mechanism absence and the adoption of a low number of conflict resolution mechanisms per treaty. The effect of hydrological variability resulted insignificant, indicating that variability remains largely ignored by negotiators of transboundary water treaties. Our research further shows that if a mechanism for conflict resolution contains one element of maturity (e.g. institutionalisation or an activation procedure based on a unilateral rule) other elements of maturity are also likely to be present, providing negotiators with an incentive to negotiate conflict resolution mechanisms with at least one mature characteristic. Finally, the adoption of a high number of mechanisms coincides with the presence of institutionalised forms for conflict resolution, supporting the incentive of negotiating more than two mechanisms per treaty.     

城市管治、区划调整与空间整合——以常州市区为例

以常州市区为例,重点从产业空间管治的角度,分析了在行政区划调整下城市管治重构与空间整合。通过分析现状开发区在主导产业选择、产业空间布局与区位选址方面的问题,论文认为,当前制度框架、经济政策与要素集聚、社会文化及空间规划等方面是造成目前中心城区之间管治冲突的主要原因;行政区划调整虽然有利于城市规模的做大和某种程度上规避强大的县级市与中心城市之间的日益突出的矛盾,但当前的发展并没有有效地削减这两大空间单元之间的本质冲突。进而,论文又从制度重构、政策导向与空间整合三方面重点分析了要构建有效的市区管治模式、实现空间协调发展与整合。     

区域管治研究的国际进展与展望

经济发展的区域化、区域发展的集团化、社会发展的民主化使得一个公平、公开又具世界 竞争力的区域管治和协调系统越来越成为当今众多学者关注的焦点;对国内外区域管治的相关 研究成果的回顾、归纳与总结, 有助于增进对区域管治的概念、理论、实践和研究方法的认识。本 文在总结区域管治研究历史和辨识相关概念的基础上, 分别对国内外不同层次的区域管治的研 究成果进行了综合评述, 对国内区域管治研究的主要问题进行了系统剖析, 并指出了我国区域管 治实施中存在的问题与难点, 提出了未来区域管治的主要研究方向。